


Questionable Motives, April 6, 1971

by MissAtomicBomb77



Series: For the Greater Good, Let's Do the News [17]
Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:38:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAtomicBomb77/pseuds/MissAtomicBomb77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For an instant, he was hoping the information he delivered today was wrong. Please let the intelligence be off by a day or a week or a month.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

April 6, 1971  
11:21 am  
Outside the United Press International Offices  
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well, he had done what he was asked to do.

Yeoman Sheppard Pressman found himself outside the dilapidated office building and decided to stop and have a quick cigarette. He was told that he was going to face a lot of abuse from the members of the international press and he was to just grin and bear it. It was more of an exercise of covering one’s ass, he was told. We warn them and when things go wrong, the military can go back and say ‘but we told you not to’ and are blameless for any loss of life.

He’s young, all of twenty one years of age and here out of dumb luck. His Commanding Officer is here on official business but the work Sheppard is here for is more as a body man right now. Because Sheppard or Shep as his friends call him, he has gifts. He’s fucking smart for one, a good shot, his memory for things is long and he’s as shrewd as anything. These are skills that have not gone unnoticed by those he’s worked for and he knows that he’s here for a reason he’s just not sure what that reason is yet.

He’s leaning back against the wall of the building, taking a moment trying to decide what to do with the rest of his day. He was told to be back fresh tomorrow, an unspoken way for his Commanding Officer to give him some free time in the city. The only thing exciting about this whole day was meeting the typist at UPI. She was a sight for sore eyes in this country and he bet that she had men falling all over her where ever she went because she’s so western. She’s a rose in the desert to a lot of foreigners, he’s sure of it.

Shep is disappointed in his own memory because he honestly couldn’t recall the information he was given about a typist employed by UPI. It’s possible that the originally assembler of the report thought that tidbit was innocuous, but doubtful. Anyone that lay eyes on her was going to remember her. It was also interesting to him that neither of the men Ed Ryan or Charlie Skinner called her by name in his presence. Almost as if they didn’t want him to know who she was.

Not to mention how defensive Charlie Skinner became when he made an overture to her. That was purposeful after Charlie mentioned that he might take her into a warzone.

She bursts out of the building then and he means that. She’s dressed in a white dress shirt which he had noticed was much too big for her slender frame when he told her good bye a few minutes ago. She’s in these khaki shorts that are just too short and expose every inch of her legs. He’s not opposed. Her hair was pulled back somehow, but it’s loose and looks as if she’s been running. Maybe she was. He manages to catch the look on her face as she glances back at the building. She’s put some distance between her and the building and catches her wandering off the main road to the side.

Ah, the beautiful woman is unhappy.

He takes a deep breath off of his cigarette. Maybe she’s not the typist. If that’s the case, then he really starts to wonder who she is.

He sees her starting to dig through her shoulder bag very fiercely and wonders what it is she’s looking for. He’s answered in a few moments later when he sees her fish out a cigarette. Shep senses an opening and is about to make his move to close the distance between them and offer her his lighter when someone else appears.

He’s running towards her. Charlie Skinner. Shep decides to wait and see what happens next. “Lee?” he hears Charlie call.

Her name is Lee. Shep rolls that around his head for a moment as he watches Charlie locate her. The only exposure he’s had to the name Lee is that reporter from AFP; a Lee Lefebvre or however it’s said. He’s sure that he butchered it earlier and… no one bothered to correct him. Maybe he was mistaken about Lee Lefebvre being a man. The AFP file was the thinnest of them all because they were French Canadian and generally did what was asked of them. Shep watches Charlie come up to her and he has this way of caressing her arms at her side. He’s saying something and she’s looking away, at the ground and whatever Charlie is saying must be important because he’s looking trying to look at her even though she’s not looking at him. Charlie is holding her arms gently at her side and by the way his head and neck gestures, he’s animated, the words are important.

She finally looks back at him and her face leans into his and they kiss.

It confirms in Shep’s mind that Charlie Skinner was a former Marine. At least now, he has something to do with the rest of his day.


	2. Chapter 2

April 6, 1971  
12:26 pm  
The Streets of   
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

She stands out from much of the city and Shep doesn’t have to be right on them to keep track of them.

The way she holds herself, her head is high yet she’s not arrogant about it. Charlie and Lee wandered back though a street market and Shep watches her talk to people, her arms animated and he likes how she gives whomever she’s speaking with her full attention. She basks them in her own brand of sunlight. Every person she speaks to has value and she lets them know it. When the crowd of children engulf her with their trinkets in hand she’s suddenly on her knees, on their level and they love her. It’s obvious that they know her and she takes the things (bobby pins, buttons, bits of ribbon) they offer seriously. She was looking for something and one little hand is victorious – he was too far away to see what it was and soon they disperse with hugs and their little fingers wrapping her blonde tresses for luck as they go.

Charlie is always a step behind her because he knows that he has no place so near to her when she’s working the crowd. He jokes with her sometimes that taking her out in public is akin to taking Jacqueline Kennedy out in public. Or even like being a guard to the Queen. She’s the center of attention and he’s there, a silent sentinel, a guardian angel keeping a quite watch over her. A little bit of his military training kicks back in at these times. It’s not as if he’s protecting her from a threat, but he finds his hands at his back, his stride a little more purposeful and he admits that he likes to lean into her ear to ask her a question. It has become a little game he plays with himself, protecting her in this way and it gives him immense pleasure. 

Charlie’s movements are not lost on Shep and he really starts to wonder more about her now. He can see the way that he puts her on this pedestal from his vantage point at the edges of the street market. She’s a beautiful woman and the way that she holds herself, not that Shep would have ever would have said it about her, but it was clear that she wasn’t a common whore. She’s not a tramp, trollop or just a lost teenager from back home looking for a good time. No, she has purpose in her and is worth more than… well, worth more than Charlie the Marine, he knows that. Something that speaks to perhaps wealth or a good family, breeding, education, polishing. Somebody important brought her into this world and their love for her is apparent in the unspoken acts she performs. Because she’s here, he concludes, she doesn’t love them enough to realize her safety was paramount. Or they are protecting her by keeping her here.

No, that last scenario sounds unlikely. She’s here of her own accord, he’s willing to bet next month’s pay on it. He’s also willing to bet that she doesn’t want anyone outside of her immediate circle to know that’s she’s here. That’s why Charlie and Ed rushed her out of his presence and didn’t call her by name. Well, who is she that makes those two journalists hold her high above? She’s not an actress, but he does admit that she reminds him of a blonde in films from back home. Military men, the higher you go, the better the breeding but she seemed indifferent to him; this isn’t what he commonly observed from wives, daughters or sisters that know someone in the military, so she’s not affiliated there. Well, that leaves money and that’s too vast for him to guess without more information. 

Whatever conversation they had before, it’s softened her completely and she leans in on Charlie now, as he moves his hands to his pockets and digs them in, she dangles herself off of one his arms. She looks like a trophy but she’s not. Shep is willing to bet that’s she’s the one in control when they are alone. She may be hanging off his arm but at the same time she’s looking up at him, smiling, wrapping herself tighter on his arm, walking around him, in front of him behind him, talking to him even though Shep can’t hear. She’s being very physical with him and Shep doubts that a centimeter of sunlight could pass between them right now. She’s waging an argument, yes, she wants something very badly and the way that she’s working him, Shep can guess that Charlie’s trying not to relent. Charlie is looking away, up, down, around and finally at her. Oh, yes, Shep has determined, she’s got to him as she continually slinks and wraps herself around him as they proceed to their destination. Such grace in this place, she is.

They’ve come to a building, apartments, soon enough and Shep finds that he needs to get closer to see if he can manage to discern more information. There are plenty of people around, but this isn’t San Francisco or anywhere in the western world. He stands out and hiding in the crowd only works for half seconds at the very best. He hopes they loiter for a few minutes more, he wants to see her one more time. The lobby is open to the world, as are most of the buildings in this city, so even in the building, they are still quite visible. Shep thinks he’s lost them now as people and cement columns cloud his vision, but he glances one more time and is rewarded.

Charlie’s back is to the wall, shoulders actually, and she’s… she’s wrapped around him, literally. She’s on him like a tree, her legs wrapped around him, her arms under and over his arms so she can hold his face, their faces inches apart. Her shoes are on the floor, her handbag hastily dropped. They shift quickly enough and now it’s her against the wall and Charlie pressing into her. Shep watches as Charlie takes her arms and places them above her head, using his left to hold them there at her wrists. He’s watching her now, almost willing for her to be horrified or something so that he could intervene on her behalf to stop such treatment… but she’s not.

She’s enthralled and Shep has no idea how that’s even possible. The way she’s looking at… this Charlie Skinner is… there are no words. When Charlie lifts her off the ground a little with his knee and his other hand holds her hip, even from the vantage point he has, Shep knows at once that the world has fallen away from her. He would sell his soul at that instant to know what was being said to her as Charlie leaned into her ear, that those words here that made her eyes close, her head tips up and her lips parted.

Then like that, the moment is over and she’s free and running to the stairs. Charlie takes his time, like there’s nothing to be in a rush for, collecting her lost shoes and errant handbag as if nothing happened just a moment ago. Shep recognizes that Charlie’s measured moments with purpose… and he’s giving her… a head start. Charlie slowly walks to the stairs and Shep doesn’t have to see to know that he would be taking them at a slow pace.

When Charlie was finally out of sight, Shep found himself loitering there for a few moments before deciding that there were things that had to be done and bursting back into the streets of Phnom Penh. For an instant, he was hoping the information he delivered today was wrong. Please let the intelligence be off by a day or a week or a month. Because he knew now that it was a certainty, she would be out on Highway Four in the morning come hell or high water. Shep knew that Lee was a woman that often, nay always got her way. They’re willingly walking into their deaths tomorrow and he feels powerless about it.

This powerlessness propels Shep back to the embassy to learn everything he can about the intelligence and about the two people he followed.


End file.
